Robert Louis Stevenson found himself attracted to the subject matter of his novel The Master of Ballantrae: A Winter’s Tale due to his interest in the years following Jacobite Scotland’s 1745 rebellion. He also drew inspiration from Captain Marryat, commenting, according to critic J. R. Hammond in a letter to a friend, “Let us make a tale, a story of many years and countries, of the sea and the land, savagery and civilization.” Stevenson based the tale on the factual life of the Marquis of Tullibardine, choosing as his first-person point-of-view narrator one Ephraim Mackellar. Mackellar proved a favorite of readers and critics, who found him one of the author’s best-realized narrator characters.
Although a gloomy man, Mackellar appreciates the value of human life and imbues his dour comments with a touch of humor that readers found engaging and realistic. His working-class credibility tempers the mystic aspects surrounding the novel’s aristocratic characters. Stevenson tells of shaping his narrator while abroad, signing his dedication to Sir Percy Florence and Lady Shelley from Waikiki in May 1880. He writes that “the problem of Mackellar’s homespun and how to shape it” gave him “superior flights” of fancy and were his “company on deck in many star-reflecting harbors.”
Mackellar traces the feud between James Durie, Master of Ballantrae, and Henry, his younger brother. The two prove excellent foils, with James being a hotheaded but charming individual, and Henry a dull but dependable fellow. Mackellar writes of James resembling his father in his love of serious reading and perhaps “some of his tact… but that which was only policy in the father became black dissimulation in the son.” Mackellar’s master, Henry, later Lord Durrisdeer, “was neither very bad, nor yet very able, but an honest, solid sort… little heard.” In the face of the revolution, James urges Henry, a cadet, to enter the fray, but he refuses and urges James to take part. The two flip a coin, and James loses. James foreshadows the brothers’ future when he asks whether Henry intends to “trip up my heels—Jacob?” His allusion to the enmity between the biblical brothers of Jacob and Isaac portends future conflict over birthright.
His love, Alison Grame, expresses her anger, telling him, “If you loved me as well as I love you, you would have stayed.” James replies that he could not love her if he did not “love honor more,” prompting Alison to cry, “You have no heart—I hope you may be killed!” She will become a part of the conflict that will destroy the family. The story turns profoundly pessimistic, dealing with the evil aspects of human nature in a way that Stevenson would never replicate.
James leaves to fight for the Young Pretender and is later reported killed in battle, allowing Henry to claim title and property, including Alison. However, James survived the fight and returns a vindictive man, determined to ruin his brother. Mackellar’s devotion to Henry causes him to distort James’s character into that of a duplicitous devil. Although Henry could prove just as vindictive as James, Mackellar’s prejudice in favor of his master blinds him to that fact. The resultant “good” and “evil” brothers mirror Stevenson’s most famous creation of duality, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, from his 1886 work.
James launches a plan to bankrupt Henry by expending all of Ballantrae’s assets. The two brothers eventually duel, and Henry appears to defeat James, leaving him for dead. The irrepressible James survives, frightening Henry and his family into moving to America. James pursues his brother, who eventually loses his grip on reality due to his brother’s persistent heckling. When James himself starts the rumor that he is to regain the title and estate, Henry’s sanity completely gives way. He orders James’s murder during a hunting trip, but James is privy to the plan, and he arranges for his faithful East Indian servant, Secundra, to bury him, claiming his death. The servant teaches James a technique to appear to be dead.
The plan goes awry, and Secundra begs Henry and his search party to dig up the body. They can’t understand the servant’s repeated rant, “Buried and not dead,” until Secundra explains, “The Sahib and I alone with murderers; try all way to escape… Then try this way: good way in warm climate, good way in India; here in this damn cold place, who can tell?… light a fire, help run… I bury him alive… I teach him to swallow his tongue.” The men dig up the body and prove James at last dead. But as Secundra continues to dig and James’s face becomes more distinct, his eyes appear to open and his mouth to grin, causing Henry to die from the shock of fright. The seeming rising from the dead of James is blamed on his “black spirit.” The two brothers share a grave at the novel’s conclusion, as they share reader empathy.
Stevenson does not set out to convince readers that either brother is in the right. Rather, he wants to prove the dramatic potential of true-life conflict and the importance of sharing such stories. The tale continues to fascinate readers and has appeared in various media forms. It is also available in electronic text.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Calder, Jenni, ed. Robert Louis Stevenson: A Critical Celebration. Totowa, N.J.: Barnes & Noble, 1980.
Hammond, J. R. A Robert Louis Stevenson Companion: A Guide to the Novels, Essays, and Short Stories. New York: Macmillan, 1984.
Categories: British Literature, Literature, Novel Analysis
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